A liquid crystal display apparatus (display apparatus) that incorporates a non-luminous liquid crystal display panel (display panel) commonly also incorporates a backlight unit (illuminating apparatus) that supplies light to the liquid crystal display panel. As light sources for use in backlight units, there are many kinds. For example, the backlight unit disclosed in Patent Document 1 listed below employs an LED (light-emitting diode) as a backlight.
In the backlight unit disclosed in Patent Document 1, as shown in FIG. 31, a plurality of LEDs (point light sources) 111 are in a matrix-like lattice arrangement at equal intervals, and the light emitted from them is mixed to produce planar light (in a plan view like FIG. 31, no planar light is illustrated; it should still be interpreted that planar light having a shape similar to the shape around the edge of the group of LEDs 111 in a lattice arrangement is produced). The produced planar light is supplied to the entire surface of a liquid crystal display panel.